WP 3 Economic Modelling Studies

WP leader: Dr. Karine Chevreul, UPEC

Objectives

The objective of WP3 is to estimate the cost-effectiveness of implementing internet-based ‘blended’ depression treatment in primary healthcare and specialised healthcare with a five-year time horizon in comparison with treatment as usual (TAU). An economic model will be built using a Markov model to simulate the natural course of depression. In a second step, treatment effects and costs will be incorporated in the model to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the implementation of internet-based ‘blended’ depression treatment compared to TAU.

Specific Objectives

  • To build a generic Markov model to simulate the natural course of depression
  • To populate the Markov model (see above) with cost and effect estimates of internet-based blended depression treatment and TAU in both primary healthcare and specialised healthcare settings and to assess the cost-effectiveness and budget-impact of the implementation of web-based ‘blended’ depression treatment in comparison with TAU from different perspectives, using different scenarios
  • To show the feasibility and generic applicability of using the model to assess the cost-effectiveness of implementation of web-based ‘blended’ depression treatment in comparison with TAU for countries that do not participate in the trials in WP2 (e.g. Ireland and Portugal)
  • Countries’ randomized control trial pooled results (WP2) will be used to generate country-specific cost-effectiveness estimates. For countries in which no trial has been undertaken, trial data will be pooled and use unit healthcare costs per country to estimate the costs for each state.